Doves On Distant Oaks

Purity of Heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.–Matthew 5:8

Purity is something that has gotten so mixed up with sexuality these days that we've lost the real thrust of what it means. We talk about being morally pure, not having impure thoughts, that we think it means we almost have to be prudish. But purity, especially purity of heart, means so much more.

The Greek word for pure is katharos (kath-ar-OS) which is used metaphorically to mean sincere or upright. Its like having a sincere desire, unsullied by any evil intent. Let me give you and example. Once I was talking to a man who was trying to recover form alcoholism. I was trying to explain how God can completely remove the desire if he truly wanted it. His response was, "Well, I've tired everything else, I might as well try God." And that quite frankly is not good enough. God wants sincere hearts, ones whose motives are intentional. That's what pure of heart means.

And what does it mean, "for they will see God." Most take it as they are going to end up in Heaven ... that's when we will see God. But that's not what it means at all and we can go directly to the Bible to understand what Jesus is talking about, because he's leaning on the Old Testament to do so.

Jesus is referring to Psalm 24. It starts with a question: "Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?" Then comes the answer: "He who has clean hands and a pure heart." The Psalmist, David, clarifies what that means: "[he] who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully (whose heart is not deceitful)." Then David says the consequence: "He will receive blessing from the Lord (blessed are), and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob."

How close is that to this beatitude? David is speaking of people who are seeking God here and now ... seeking his very face. Seeking the God who is the author of all things, giver of all thing, the source. After all, aren't we supposed to see God everywhere, in everything? Certainly God is omnipresent, but he also manifests himself to us—allowing us to feel his direct presence.

I like to think of it as holding up a mirror between ourselves and the rest of the world. When our heart is filled with impurities and selfishness, what do we see? Only a reflection of our selves. But when our desire to see God is pure, in earnest, when our motives are honest, that image starts to disappear. In fact, the hole mirror surface begins to disappear, and we see God in everything beyond it. We see the beauty of God in the faces of other people, we hear his voice in the wind rustling through the leaves, we smell his fragrance in the flowers—all our senses are tuned into God. We SEE God. We don't have to wait until we get to Heaven. We can see him here, now, if we could just get rid of our own reflection.